1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a navigation device and an information display device in which objects such as marks, etc. are displayed on a map, and to an object creating method therefor.
2. Related Art
In recent years, navigation devices that can obtain their position and moving speed in real time by using GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites orbiting at high altitude have started to come into widespread use, either installed in moving objects, such as automobiles, or for portable use.
In these navigation devices, a map is displayed on a monitor on the basis of digitized map data. In particular, navigation devices installed in moving objects are provided with a route guidance function based on a route that has been set by the user. When the user sets the route, he or she designates a departure point, a destination point, and an intermediate point along the route.
When the user designates the departure point, the destination, and so forth when setting the route, a remote controller, functioning as input means, is normally used. The series of operations that the user performs using the remote controller during route setting are described with reference to FIGS. 14A to 14C.
As shown in FIG. 14A, the user first selects a xe2x80x9cRoutingxe2x80x9d menu C1 from a plurality of menus (operation 1). Thereupon, as shown in FIG. 14B, a plurality of routing-related menus C2 to C4 are displayed on a display unit 12, and then the user selects a xe2x80x9cset routexe2x80x9d menu C2 (operation 2). As a result, the apparatus enters a route setting mode, as shown in FIG. 14C. In this route setting mode, after the user selects, for example, a xe2x80x9cdestinationxe2x80x9d menu C6 (operation 3) and designates the desired destination (operation 4), he or she pushes an execute key (not shown in the drawing) to set the destination (operation 5). Thereupon, as shown in FIG. 15, a checkered-flag object Od, for example, is created on a map M displayed on the display unit 12.
In operation 4 described above, when the user designates the destination by using the map M displayed on the screen, operations such as those described in the following are performed.
As shown in FIG. 16A, a point T is always displayed at a predetermined position of the screen of the navigation device, for example, at the center. When the user wishes to set, for example, a point F encircled by the dotted line in FIG. 16A as the destination, he or she performs a predetermined operation using the remote controller to make the map M scroll, and the point F, which he or she wants to set as the destination, is made to coincide with the point T, as shown in FIG. 16B. After this, by performing the destination setting in operation 5, the point F, which coincides with the point T, is set as the destination and then, as shown in FIG. 16C, an object Od, which indicates the destination, is created and displayed.
The user can also attach marks to arbitrary points on the map M. In order to attach these marks, in the same manner as in the case of setting the destination on the map M, the user scrolls the map M to make the desired position coincide with the point T on the screen, and then performs a predetermined operation from the menus to create a mark.
Incidentally, touch panels are often used recently as the input means, instead of the remote controller. In navigation devices that are provided with these touch panel input means, the touch panel is integrally provided on the entire surface of the display unit 12, and thus, by tapping on the touch panel with a pen or a finger, it is possible to operate a tree-structured menu system that is displayed on the touch panel. With such a touch panel, although it is possible to intuitively perform cursor movement and setting operations using a pen or a finger, the basic operation is the same as in the case of the remote controller.
When setting, for example, the destination and so forth in the case where the input means is either the remote controller or the touch panel, it has been necessary to perform operations 1 to 5 sequentially. In other words, in order for the user to smoothly perform the above-mentioned series of operations, it has been necessary for him or her to learn certain operations. For example, when setting the destination, it has been necessary for the user to roughly understand where the xe2x80x9cdestinationxe2x80x9d menu C6 is located within the tree-structured operation menus. Even though the manufacturer puts a lot of effort into designing the display content (text) of the menus and the tree structure of the operation menus to improve ease of use, this does not necessarily mean that the user can perform operations intuitively. Moreover, when an operation is executed by mistake, the user must redo the whole operation again from the beginning, which may cause the user to feel that this is troublesome.
In order to perform other functions, such as erasing created objects or obtaining detailed information about points on the map to which objects have been added, it has of course been necessary to perform several predetermined operation steps.
Furthermore, when making the point T on the screen coincide with a desired position by scrolling the map M and then creating a mark, making the point T coincide with the desired position is not necessarily achieved by a single action. Therefore, in some cases the user may be forced to perform the same actions many times, as well as the action for scrolling the map M, which is one reason for the user to experience difficulty.
The present invention has been made in view of such technical problems and has as an object the provision of a navigation device, an information display device, and an object creation method in which the creation of object marks, setting of the destination, and so forth can be performed by intuitive operations, thus providing superior ease of use.
In a navigation device according to the present invention, when a button object and desired coordinates on a map are specified, a mark is created and displayed on the map at a position corresponding to the specified coordinates. In other words, in the navigation device of the present invention, button objects having specific processing associated therewith are displayed on a display unit along with a map. Then, when a button object and desired coordinates on the map are specified on the touch panel, a mark creating processor creates a mark and displays the mark on the map at a position corresponding to the specified coordinates. In general, the mark is a visually recognizable object that indicates, for example, a favorite place, a destination, or an intermediate point along the route.
In the navigation device of the present invention, when a button object and coordinates corresponding to a mark displayed on the map are specified, it is also possible to erase the mark. Likewise, when a button object and coordinates corresponding to a mark displayed on the map are specified, it is also possible to output mark-related information. If the place where the mark is attached is, for example, any type of establishment or store, the mark-related information is guide information such as the hours of business, the days on which the store is closed, the address, the telephone number, a photograph (image) of that place, and so forth. This information should preferably be associated with the mark and stored in advance in a predetermined data storage unit such as a recorded disk, etc. This mark-related information may be output onto a display unit in the form of text or images, or alternatively, the mark-related information may be output as voice information from a speaker.
In the navigation device of the present invention, a button object and desired coordinates on the map can be specified by performing a drag operation between the button object and the desired coordinates on the map. A drag operation is one operation method for giving an instruction to a computer, and in the present invention, the term drag operation refers to the action of moving a pen or finger on a touch panel while keeping the pen or finger in contact with the touch panel.
Moreover, in the navigation device of the present invention it is possible to specify a button object and desired coordinates on a map while keeping the map fixed, that is to say, without scrolling the map.
Furthermore, the present invention provides an information display device in which, when one of the starting position and the ending position of an input line segment coincides with a command button, editing of an object at the other one of the starting position and the ending position that does not coincide with the command button is performed. In other words, when input means receives an input in response to an external contact, position detection means detects the starting position and the ending position of the input line segment. Then, when the line segment starting position or the ending position detected by the position detection means coincides with a command button displayed on a portion of the display area of display means, command execution means performs editing of an object on the image corresponding to the starting position or the ending position. The object editing referred to here means object creation, creation of object-related information, object erasing, and so on. Object-related information means object-related information that is associated with the object and stored. If the place where the object is attached is the home of an acquaintance, the object-related information is the name, address, telephone number, and so forth of that person.
The information display device of the present invention is, for example, a navigation device; but in addition to this, it may be a mobile terminal device such as a PDA (personal digital assistant), a notebook computer, or a mobile telephone, or it may be a personal computer and so forth.
In the information display device of the present invention, a map is displayed as an image on the display means and object editing of the mark on the map can be performed. However, it is also possible for the image on the display means to be an image other than a map.
Moreover, in the information display device of the present invention, desired coordinates inside a region where the command buttons are not displayed may be specified. Accordingly, by linking a command button and coordinates inside a region where command buttons are not displayed, the user can easily perform editing of an object at a position corresponding to an area other than the command buttons.
When a command button for creating an object is displayed on the same screen as the screen on which a map is displayed, and then the position corresponding to the command button and a point on the map are specified, an object creation method according to the present invention creates an object at that point on the map. Thus, with the object creation method of the present invention, it is possible to specify a command button and a point on the map, which are displayed on the same screen.
In the present invention, it is also possible to provide a recording medium which stores a program for executing the processing described below on a computer with a touch panel input device. In other words, with the program stored in this recording medium, a map and a predetermined area for performing editing of an object can be displayed on the same screen. Then, when a drag operation is performed on the touch panel between the predetermined area and a desired point on the map, a line segment input in that drag operation is received, and when the starting point coordinates or the ending point coordinates of the line segment are positioned inside the predetermined area, editing of the object on the map at the starting point coordinates or the ending point coordinates is executed.